The scene opens up with Ben Jordan sitting on grass, the camera pulled out just to see his upper body, illuminated by the morning sunlight shining down. Ben smiles at the camera, looking around at what can be seen beyond the camera, a satisfied smile crossing his face. Wearing just a white T-shirt as far as the camera can see, figure hugging a much more in shape body then you last saw in a relaxed promo for his last SCW match three months ago against Anthrax, he wasn't in the best of shape against Anthrax, but there was an air of seriousness around him this time concerning his physical condition.
"Alright people." Ben says with a smile "I feel like I've waited forever to say that in front of an SCW camera."
He turns his head away with a slight smile before turning back towards the camera, clutching his hands together.
"It's only been three months, I know but I've missed talking you bloody lot." He admits honestly. "Wow, three months. Three months ago I was sitting around in London telling you how depressing my life had become with a friend leaving my life, my job changing, depression kicking in and I hope I made a few of you aware that you we're not alone when ya down. It was a sad time, but I'm gonna prove to you by the time you get to the end of watching this that things can proper turn around."
He clears his throat.
"You knew obviously I was doing better at the end of SCW, after Jamie stuck on his wings and was an absolute angel, right?" Ben asks the people watch. "I ended up back home for a while, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Wrestling was in me dome, happier time and all that. You always seem to go back to what made ya happy at some point and wrestling did that for me. Now I'd been talking to federation who pushed hard for me, made me feel wanted, but one fateful night, I was hanging out with Jamie Dean and a call pushed me closer to that happiest. Let's have a butchers at that, shall we?"
*******
Jamie Dean's loft in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.
It had been a while since these two men were around each other, Ben taking the move back to England, while Jamie stayed in California, working tirelessly for the duos homeless shelter. Ben stayed as active as he could, constantly on Skype over the months after SCW had closed, often talking to the kids under Jamie's watchful eye, he'd even flown over on a whim because Jamie said he had a surprise for him. Ben thought it was to see Black Panther with thirty young men and women, turned out to be a surprise party. He felt close to the group without being around them, but he wanted to visit them. He'd flown in to California under the cover of night, hiding out at Jamie's apartment till the morning.
Ben sits on the sofa in Jamie's loft as Jamie moves towards him, beer in hand and hands it to the appreciative Cockney, nodding his head towards his close friend as Jamie moves past, taking a seat on the other end of the sofa, turning his body around to face Ben, resuming the conversation they were having before the trip to the kitchen for beer.
"So you're really considering that?" Jamie asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Yeah." Ben responds, lifting the bottle towards his lips as he looks back at Jamie. "I've been out of the ring for a couple of months, and it's a good offer to get me in a ring again."
Jamie frowns at Ben as he looks down the sofa.
"Ben, that's the place that seems to have annoyed more wrestlers than anything else." Jamie says softly. "It's the same place that claims to be the best but have a site designed by ten year old, that treats wrestlers like crap. Why would you ever consider putting yourself there?"
Ben didn't really have much of an answer as he takes a sip of his beer.
"I dunno" Ben admits "They made me feel wanted, pushed hard to get me there."
"I make you feel wanted but it don't get you moving in here." Jamie says with a joking smile.
Ben shakes his head slowly, more than used to his friends wit.
"I think it's more that I see others that we used to work with on Twitter." Ben informs Jamie. "And they don't seem happy, they're limited in what they can do, I think I saw the other day even Kris was out of the game and the geezer made SCW tick. They're all under appreciated out there and this place made me feel appreciated."
"So you'll be heading there?" Jamie asks with concern "Cause I think you should think about this for a while Ben, do a little more research, talk to a few more people. I know I've heard bad things about these guy."
Ben remains silent, just nodding towards Jamie as he takes a gulp from the bottle of been in his left hand. The silence breaks as a buzz comes from not one but two phones in the room. Ben reaches in to his pocket and pulls out his phone as Jamie reaches across to a small coffee table, retrieving his phone. Both men look at their phone curiously, their eyes locked to their screens as they speak
"Ben..."
"Jamie..."
"I just got a text from an old boss of ours" Jamie says looking at the phone.
"Hope you're well, give me a call when you get a chance...." Ben says reading from the screen.
"That's what mine says." Jamie say as he shows the phone to Ben.
"I wonder what Mark Ward wants from us." Ben says softly "But there is only one way to find out."
Jamie nods in agreement as Ben quickly hits the button to call and switches it Speakerphone, allowing Jamie to listen in. To both men's surprise, Hot Stuff Mark Ward answers quickly.
"Ben, how's it going?" The familiar voice says down the phone.
"Yeah, good." Ben starts. "You're on speaker and I'm here with Jamie. We both got the same message from you."
"Hey!" Jamie calls out.
"Hey." Hot Stuff replies "You good?"
"Well I got an Englishman on my sofa and an Englishman on the phone." Jamie says with a shrug. "I've had worse days."
"Good to see you've still got that humour." Hot Stuff says stifling a laugh.
"So what can we do for you?" Ben asks with a curious tone.
"Boys, I'm not gonna piss around or anything here." Hot Stuff says firmly, causing Ben and Jamie to exchange glances. "I'm not sure how I've done it, but I've got a less than keen Christian agreeing to reopen SCW with me, really less than keen, but he said if I can find the interest, he's reluctantly return to perv over people and occasionally do some work to run the place. You guys have any interest in returning?"
Ben and Jamie exchange glances, Jamie pointing at Ben nodding before pointing to the phone.
"I can't" Jamie tells Hot Stuff down the phone. "I have a lot to do, I can't put in the time to be in the ring again, but Ben here has been talking about getting back in the ring soon, in fact, he may be signing somewhere in a few days."
Ben looks at Jamie mouthing the word "what" to him but Jamie rolls his hand towards Ben to encourage him.
"Is that so?" Hot Stuff asks. "How far advanced are the talks?"
"Very advanced." Jamie says taking over, causing Ben to fire him a 'what are you doing?' look.
"Well I'll tell you what, Ben..." Hot Stuff says "Hold off on anymore talks there, I'm pretty sure I can make you a much better offer, and you'll be coming back to a place you know and more respected then anywhere else you can go. No starting over elsewhere, I'll outbid whatever you've been offered."
"Sure..." Ben says slowly "We can certainly talk."
"Great." Hot Stuff replies with a cheery tone. "I'm in Vegas now for the next few weeks, putting together this thing. Any chance you can fly out here?"
"I can be there in a couple of days to talk about." Ben says with a smile forming on his face. "One more thing though, I have a condition."
"Yeah?" Hot Stuff says expecting a negotiation.
"Could you have a managers contract written up." Ben says smiling and pointing at Jamie, causing Jamie to shake his head. "Cause I can't help but think I'll have a manager in a day or two."
"I can do that" Hot Stuff says "I'll get the managers contract written up with Jamie's name on it. Anyway, see you in a couple of days. Have a good night boys."
Without any hesitation, Hot Stuff hangs up the phone, causing Jamie to shake his head rapidly.
"Manager?" Jamie says surprised "Me?"
"Yep, no need to hit the gym four times a week to be a manager, one days work a week on a Sunday." Ben tells him. "Cause the way you just got extra money out of Hot Stuff without even trying, I think you'll be better at the manager lark than I would be."
Jamie stumbles for words that don't seem to come out of his mouth.
"I'm gonna need a house." Ben tells Jamie. "Get Googling that manager man!"
*******
Back to Ben sitting on the grass in the unknown location.
Ben can't help but smile as he thinks back on that day, a life changing day.
"So yeah..." Ben says with a smile "Few days later, me and Jamie was off to Vegas, sitting in the same office we signed our first SCW contract, it don't get any less scary going there, especially when ya got Christian there drooling over you like prime beef, but deals got done and Jamie reluctantly decided to become my manager."
Ben frowns slightly.
"With a few terms and conditions that I actually don't run off to form a tag team." Ben reveals "And that I give it a proper good go in the singles division, something I haven't done since my ACW days where I swept up everything. Very unchartered territory for me but I'm a man of me word."
Ben nods firmly.
"But I really did need a gaff of my own." Ben continues "A place to lay me nut at night and call mine. I haven't had a home since Cuba, flogged that off for decent wonga and became the world's richest homeless geezer. I bounced from bars to hotels at that time, but you all know this is ya watched me last promo. Well after that, I went home, back to England, you'd know that if you caught the start of this promo."
Ben winks.
"Well after the Vegas thing, I stayed there, hotelled it up a little, and chilled a bit, but I know I needed a house." He says pointing down the camera. "I knew I wanted a quiet place, not many people, be a bit where people don't take too much notice, little bit of land, little bit secluded and I found the perfect place with a fitting name, so I roped my two mates in to come see it with me."
He smiles.
"One minute I was sitting in Vegas, the next I was on a plane with Jamie Dean and Sam Marlowe to a place that goes hand in hand with my personality..." He says with a smile "Bar Harbour"
*******
Bar Harbour, Maine.
Told you the name was fitting for the Englishman who likes a drink on days ending in Y.
Ben sits behind the wheel of a car, moving down an almost deserted looking road. Jamie Dean sits in the passenger season, while Sam Marlowe sits in the middle of the back seat, looking around her surroundings.
"Are y'all sure it's down here?" Sam asks, her Texas tone filling up the car. "There doesn't seem to be a lot around."
"Just the way I like it." Ben says with a smile.
Jamie looks around, looking for anything that will stand out.
"All I can see are trees." Jamie comments "And I've seen that episode of Supernatural where there's a lot of things in the trees."
Ben smiles at Jamie's comment.
"There's only one road to this place." Ben tells them "And we're on it. It's a little bit cut off from the main town but trust me, you're gonna love it."
Sam leans forward between the two front seats and points.
"Is that it?" She asks.
A grey brick structure, seemingly made up of many different buildings start to come in to view.
"That's the place." Ben says proudly. "But don't let the grey brick facade full ya, it's actually wood."
"So it's like a cabin?" Sam asks.
"Bloody big and expensive cabin." Ben says with a laugh.
The car draws closer, causing Jamie to lean his head forward.
"Is that a lake?" Jamie says with a tone of surprise.
"You're an observant fella today JD." Ben says as they get a little closer "But I don't think the lake is for sale."
Ben stops the car outside the front of the house, showing the U shape of the house with two different entrances at the front. He turns the engine off and within seconds, the three exit the car.
"This looks amazing." Sam comments
Ben nods in agreement as Jamie looks around, stunned by the pure beauty of the area.
"It looks expensive." Jamie says, looking towards Ben for an answer.
"Just under two million." Ben says with a wince on his face.
Jamie's eyes widen as he looks at Ben.
"Two million?" He says flabagasted.
"I reckon I can get it for less." Ben responds. "But I sold the house in more than I bought it for, I still had dough left over from selling the London house. I can buy this outright and not have any problems."
The three start to walk towards the front door.
"That's a lot of money, Ben." Sam says as she bites her lip.
"Not denying that." Ben says with a slightly reassuring nod. "But look what I'm buying. A secluded five bedroom place with a pool on a lake, in a town with just two and a half thousand people in it. Ten acres of field, a heated outdoor pool, an orchid, yes, I will own an orchid, and there's even a running brook."
"Don't you think you should look inside first?" Jamie asks.
He could, and would look inside, but I think that was something Ben had only ever felt in his life once before, it was love at first sight. It was everything and so much more. Ben had lived his life in the craziness of cities. London and Las Vegas were always busy, sometimes he cried out for the peace and quiet. Moving to Cuba was the best of both worlds, the relaxing lifestyle in Cuba, coupled with the crazy weekends in whatever city SCW was visiting. This would be the best of his both worlds. The craziness of weekends away on the road with SCW, coupled with this peaceful Mecca in Maine, he knew as long as the house passed inspection and wasn't sinking in to the ground, he wanted this thing of beauty.
"And that is what we're going to do." Ben says as he puts a hand on both Jamie and Sam's shoulders.
A woman opens the door, clipboard in hand.
"And that is why she's here mate." Ben says with a wink to Jamie. "To give us the tour."
Ben approaches the woman.
"Mr Jordan?" She asks in a soft tone.
"Please... Call me Ben."
*******
Back to current day Ben, leaning back on the grass.
"What a place." Ben says with a smile "I mean, seriously, what a great, great place. I simply couldn't say no to it. Go on, show the people."
The camera pans backwards to see that Ben has been sitting on the grass behind his new home from the beginning of the promo. Ben points beyond the camera, and the camera points towards the lake, the sun beautifully bouncing off of the blue, with slightly green colouring, water. The camera turns back toward Ben, to now show him wearing khaki shorts, unseen early.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? There's a house warming party coming up and you're all invited." Ben says with pride. "So I'm officially a Maine man..."
Ben taps his chin.
"Note to self, call this promo Maine Man." He says with a smile creeping on to his face "Spelt M-A-I-N-E..... Ben you cheesy genius you."
He smiles to himself.
"See, I am back on the right track." Ben says pointing down the camera. "A few months ago, I was showing you my weakness, the things that was my kyptonite. I was showing you that the best of us fall, but now I'm showing you the worst of us can get back up, and I was the worst possible me I could be and I got back up and my life is back on track."
Ben waves a finger at the camera.
"Don't get me wrong, this ain't meant to be a celebration of me getting off me arse and back in the race." He says firmly "This is showing you that if I can do it, you can."
He meant that. There was no showing off from Ben, he was never that kinda guy, he was always trying to inspire others, because others have inspired him. Pay it forward was big philosophy for him.
"I'm in a good place and now I'm set for future challenges." He says with a nod. "Like Blast From The Past."
Ben rubs his hand over his chin.
"When Jamie said he thought it was a good idea, knock the rust off, work with people I haven't before, get through as far as I can then work for where I wanna be, I thought blinding idea, let's do it, let's challenge meself against people I'm unfamiliar with and that was all good and stuff." Ben says happily. "Draw started and I see me partner as Brittany Williams, and I wasn't complaining at all. Not even close to complaining, if she's half as good as her mother, then we got us an outside chance on this whole thing, we could have a proper crack at it."
Ben's demeanour changes instantly, his eyebrows lowered as he closes his eyes for just a few seconds before opening them and looking down the camera, the left side of his lips curling down.
"And then the card was announced and it felt like I was kicked in the bollocks." He admits "When I saw that I was facing Konrad Raab."
Ben stops again, breathing deeply.
"History lesson time." Ben starts. "I know the name Raab is well known in SCW thanks to Markus 'Lord' Raab. I played a huge part in Markus switching his life up a little bit, I showed him to think outside the box and take a chance on things in life, to not be closed off and to step out of his comfort zone. Markus had something in me that he never really had before, he had a friend, he only needed one to open the floodgates, because he hung out with me, JD, Sammi, Amy, Evie and Ryan. It worked both ways because the more Markus accepted me in to his life, the more I knew about it, the more people I met, like Konrad, Markus' twin brother."
Ben nervously wrings his hands.
"Now I know a lot of you are unfamiliar with Konrad, so I'll tell ya a little about him." Ben says. "Everything you remember Markus for when he was in SCW, before I helped him, take that and reverse it because Konrad seemed to get all the light, while Markus was the dark. Complete opposite."
Ben puts his fingers in a triangle, placing the tips of his fingers on his chin.
"I consider Konrad as a friend, so much so, I went to watch him play football... My football people.... when I was in Los Angeles. I met him for drinks after." Ben says truthfully. "I met his wife, hell, the other night on Twitter after the draw was made, there was hints from the bosses that Konrad was gonna get dropped from the tournament because of her tweets. Who was the geezer that dropped him the text to give him a heads up?"
Ben points to himself.
"I did, because I wanted to see Konrad in the tournament." Ben says firmly. "And then I saw the card and it was almost like a worst nightmare scenario. Did I want to face Konrad at some point, of course I did, maybe in the final or something, but this soon in the tournament? I think my oh bollocks tweet covers how I felt about that."
He slowly shakes his head and looks at the grass below him.
"Now I gotta trust my partner to take care of Amanda Cortez, also sorry you got the draw you didn't want pal." Ben says sincerely "I gotta trust my partner and I can honestly say it's a bit of a pickle for me. I've never seen her wrestler, I've not had any interaction with her but I know she obviously comes from good stock, what I can gather anyway. She was born in to this business, she grew up in this business, her mother is Crystal Hilton! Crystal has won everything in SCW, she's a prodigy with a whole lot to prove, she knows she's gotta break out of her mother shadow in SCW so I trust that she'll be able to do that and Amanda will be a tough challenge. I got faith in this sink or swim situation that she'll swim, but man...."
Ben shuffles uncomfortably on the grass.
"Ben Jordan Vs Konrad Raab." He mutters. "It's a bit of a dream match in some circles and I am more than up for it. I know you're one of the most respectful people in this business, possibly one of the most respectful people in the world, it's one of your great qualities as a human being, and I know that this is gonna be one of the cleanest matches of all time, but you're a Raab and if I learned one thing about Raab's, you're competitive buggers."
Ben can't help but smile.
"I know you're a double champion and you don't get to be that by fluking your way through wrestling." Ben says. "You get there with hard graft and a will to win, I respect that, that's where I wanna be, I wanna be seen as the guy with the will to win, to put in the hard graft, to be one of the hardest working people on the roster. Now I never expected this match so soon and I'm not gonna be the guy that sits here and says I'm gonna kick your arse, I'm gonna make you wish you never signed up, you're not a patch on your brother, blah, blah, blah, you know that ain't me mate."
Ben nods sharply.
"I'm not gonna waste your time with anything like that, I don't know how this match is gonna go, you got a partner you don't respect, I got one I've never seen put a wrist lock on anyone." Ben says with a slight smile. "What I'm gonna tell ya is what this tournament means to me. For years, people have been saying to me to go solo, go for that single gold, now I've been lucky to have Simon Jones and Jamie Dean as my tag team partners, lucky is actually an understatement, but before then I was on my own, I had one, just one single title shot in my life in SCW and I got whooped by J2H in his first or second defence on that long run of fourteen months or so. That's it, in ACW, I was the guy who held a title for fourteen months, SCW, I never lived up to my ACW hype. This tournament is my chance to do that, to live up to the hype that has faded away over time. I got to the final of this thing last year and ya brother walloped me, and I never recovered, I hid away from single matches, I couldn't do it."
Ben shrugs his shoulders.
"Now I see the irony of using a tag tournament to kick my singles career up the arse but winning this thing, people look at you differently, they look at you like you're a big deal, and that inspires confidence." Ben says calmly "It makes you feel like you can slay dragons, it makes you feel like you can take a little team from South London and give them back to back promotions. Confidence is key and this tournament to me is about that, this is the thing that's gonna fire off my confidence in to the next word. I admit, I would have been a ton happier if I wasn't potentially using you to kick off my confidence, but I'm not gonna give it the Bertie big bollocks and say I'm gonna do this and that."
Ben waves his finger at the camera.
"What I'm gonna do is give you what the fans want to see, what everyone wants to see and that is one hell of a match." Ben says with a firm nod and a calm smile. "The fans would love to see us in the ring together, that's what they're getting, that's what we're gonna give them. They've paid their money to be there to watch us, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have put their credit card details in to the SCW site to see us go at it, streamed on every device known to man. I'm gonna put on a show to make their money worth it, you're gonna put on a show to make their money worth it. Amanda is gonna wear a skimpy outfit to make their money worth it, people will tune in to see if Brittany really can be as good as mummy. We are gonna give them a match worth seeing."
Ben nods confidently.
"We're gonna show each and every fan what they've been missing, while they've had to put their peepers on other federations." Ben starts confidently. "We're gonna show every federation out there that their time to think they have the best wrestlers and the best matches, was over as soon as the luck of the draw put Ben Jordan on one side of the ring and Konrad Raab on the other side of the ring."
Ben points to his left and then to the right to symbolize opposite sides of the ring.
"There's loads of feds out there that would love a match like this Konrad." Ben says pointing at himself then the camera. "There would be fed bosses offering you their daughters to have a match like this on their card, but they don't have it, the best federation in the history of federations is the perfect stage for a match with us two in the ring. Sin City Wresting, us in the ring together, you couldn't write it any better."
Ben smiles and rubs his chin.
"I don't know what's gonna happen. I might kick your arse, you might kick my arse but it doesn't matter." He says with a honest tone. "But I will be shaking ya hand before the match, I'll shake ya hand after the match, I'll buy ya a beer after the show and I will sit there win or lose and I will ask you one thing, one thing that the fans will want."
Ben holds up one finger.
"After Blast From The Past is done, doesn't matter if it's after one match or if it's after a final...." Ben says looking deep in to the camera. "Keep the Raab dynasty alive in SCW."
Ben nods slowly.
"Stay amongst friends and write the next story in Raab history in Sin City Wrestling." He says seriously. "Because no one would love it more to see you do what Markus did, more than I would."
Ben rubs his chin as he looks in to the camera.
"Right...." He starts "I've taken up enough of your time. Amanda, lovely to see you back in an SCW ring again, just like I said to Konrad, would also love you to stay here. I watched your shows in the other place, don't work for a dick boss like that when the City of Sin and Amanda Cortez seems to fit like a hand in a glove."
Ben wiggles his fingers.
"And Konrad..." Ben says sincerely. "It will be absolute pleasure to be in the ring with no only a double champion, but someone I call a friend."
He smiles down the camera.
"On a quick side note." He says with a tilted head. "Thank you to Christian Underwood and Mark Ward for giving me a chance to sit on your screens again and rabbit away to the fans. I know it musta been a tough choice to close and a tougher one to reopen again, and to everyone on the roster, new and old faces. I hope we can kick SCW beyond what it used to be. Annnnnnnnnnnnnyways"
A wide smile covers his face.
"You lot be good and I'll see you on Sunday." He says widely grinning.
Ben winks down the camera.
"Laters people!"
The camera fades
